Sister Joan Chittister famously said, "We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again." Reflecting on that journey -- a blog at a time -- is the focus of this site.

Monday, July 10, 2006

When the going gets tough, the tough polish silver

OK -- it may not work for everybody but on the off-chance it'll work for you, I'm throwing it out there: polishing some silver is a works-for-me antidote to the powerless, helpless, nothing-I-do-ends-up-making-any-difference blues.

But since it is admittedly an option ripe for attacks of class-based assumptions before I get any of those in the comment section let me be perfectly clear: I recognize there are lots of people who live full, productive and fabulous lives who don't have old silver gathering dust begging to be polished. In which case, this will not work for you.

However, on Saturday afternoon when I was juggling writer's block with a sermon deadline looming ever closer, post-convention stress syndrome exacerbated by our diocesan clergy "debrief with the bishops" meeting Saturday morning and mother's angst over my son's departure this week for deployment to Kuwait with his U.S. Army unit I ditched it all and dug out the silver polish.

And an hour later the sermon still wasn't written, the Anglican Communion was still a mess and Jamie was still packing his duffle bag but by God, I had shiny candlesticks. And picture frames. And fruit bowls, tea trays and serving bowls. And I thought how amazing it was that those dull, gray, dusty bits of metal that had been sitting there doing nothing-in-particular an hour before were now gleaming in the afternoon sun on the sideboard. And what it had taken was a little time, a littel elbow grease, a little silver polish and a little faith that under all that tarnish was something worth the effort.

Maybe that's the lesson ... whether you have silver to polish or not. That underneath all the tarnish of our broken relationships, hurt feelings and failed initiatives -- foreign AND domestic -- there is stuff worth saving ... worth nurturing ... worth restoring: in this church, in this communion, in this country. It's worth a try.

In the terrific Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral , Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays explain the silver-polishing thing:

Southern ladies have a thing about polishing silver. We'd be hard pressed to tell you how many of our friends and their mothers have greeted the sad news of a death in the family by going straight to the silver chest and starting to polish everything inside.

Later, after many digressions on southern funeral food (with piquant observations about Methodists, who make things only from canned ingredients, and Episcopalians, who make nothing out of cans but secretly crave the low brow "funeral goo) there's a tidy treatise on The Big Issues:

Attention to detail and borrowed silver are key to its success. The committee rolls "Big Brown," the table, out into the parish hall, drapes it with a damask tablecloth, and puts a large silver coffee urn and tea service at one end and a large silver tray of goodies at the other....Compotes on both sides of the table are filled with nuts. On the table are cheese straws; two cakes, each on a silver stand; and neat little squares of fudge cake..A silver pitcher (borrowed, of course) sits on a special table for water drinkers. The table setup, if not the food, reflects an important article of the Episcopal credo: you can't be too thin or have too much silver.

I find that yoga and a healthy spinning class at 6:00 a.m. three/four times weekly helps! Yes, I realize I'm demonstrating some economic middle class white privilege ... And it's worth the $30.00 some odd dollars a month for me to strive to stay balanced physically, mentally, and spiritually.

We can't tend to the needs of others if we haven't tended to our own, can we? Good for you Susan! God's Grace and peace upon your son, your family and you as he departs towards his military assignment. May God watch over him and the thousands upon thousands of lives that this unjust war impacts each day.

Welcome to my blog ...

... where I try to be really clear about what I'm clear about. For example:

Religious persecution is when you're prevented from exercising your beliefs, not when you're prevented from IMPOSING your beliefs.

========

Until we end the blatant and indefensible discrimination of DOMA we are not living up to the pledge we make to be a nation of liberty and justice for all, we are not providing the equal protection guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to same-sex couples and we are failing to defend the self-evident truth that our forbearers fought to protect: that ALL people are created equal.

============ Using "biblical standards" to condemn those who understand that sexual orientation is morally neutral makes as much sense as using "biblical standards" to condemn astronomers who understand that the earth revolves around the sun. The Bible may have said it but that doesn't always settle it. ============ It's liberty and justice for all -- not some. It's respect the dignity of every human being -- not just straight ones. Got it? Great. Let's do it.

====== In order to keep moving forward toward liberty and justice for all we can't just be right about what the 1st Amendment protects. We have to be smart about how we respond to those who skipped the 9th Commandment and think lying is a Traditional Family Value. ======= Jesus said "Love your neighbor." Not "Love your neighbor unless your neighbor is gay."

Basic Bio

A cradle Episcopalian second generation Dodger fan ENFJ native of Los Angeles I was ordained in 1996 and currently serve as a Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena.
My family consists of my wife Lori, 2 dogs, (Luna and Betsy), 3 cats (Maui, Cherokee and Harold) and our four nearly-grown kids: Jim, Brian, Grace and Emily.
My life in the church has included everything from Junior Altar Guild with my Aunt Gretchen to my “obligatory young adult lapsed phase” to a tour of duty on the St. Paul’s, Ventura vestry where I also worked as parish secretary to a life-heart-soul changing experience as part of the Cursillo community to serving on my parish ECW Board to seminary at the School of Theology in Claremont to associate/day school chaplain positions at St. Mark’s, Altadena and St. Peter’s, San Pedro to Executive Director of Claiming the Blessing to my current parish position at All Saints Church. It’s been a long and winding road and the journey continues: an inch at a time.

Bottom Line:

A Comment On Comments

Strongly held perspectives are appreciated. Ad hominem attacks will be deleted. When in doubt, revisit page 305 of the BCP and if what you're typing doesn't meet the "respect the dignity" clause of the Baptismal Covenant then save us both some time and energy and don't hit "send."

DISCLAIMER

This blog is the personal weblog of one Susan Lynn Russell. The opinions expressed herein are hers and hers alone. The postions taken on matters theological or political (or anything else, for that matter) are in no way to be construed as the official positions of any other person, institution, group or organization.

Other Cool Stuff I Get To Do

Smart things other people have said you should know about

“Faith in action is called politics. Spirituality without action is fruitless and social action without spirituality is heartless. We are boldly political without being partisan. Having a partisan-free place to stand liberates the religious patriot to see clearly, speak courageously, and act daringly.” -- Ed Bacon

“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"It's time for "tolerant" religious people to acknowledge the straight line between the official anti-gay theologies of their denominations and the deaths of these young people. Nothing short of changing our theology of human sexuality will save these young and precious lives." -- The Rt Rev Gene Robinson

"How can you initiate someone into the Body of Christ and then treat them like they’re half-assed baptized?" - The Rt Rev Barbara Harris

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ~ Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these." — Siddhārtha Gautama

"I'm so glad Mary didn't wait for the formulation of a Doctrine of the Incarnation before she said 'Yes' to God." -- Ed Bacon

"The great Easter truth is not that we will be born again someday but that we are to be alive here and now by the power of the resurrection." -- Philips Brooks (paraphrase)

"History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” -- Walter Wink

“Patience, a quality of holiness may be sloth in the soul when associated with the lack of righteous indignation.” -- Abraham Heschel

"Don't tell me what you believe. Tell me what difference it makes that you believe!" -- Verna Dozier

“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate. All are free to believe or not believe, all are free to practice a faith or not, and those who believe are free and should be free, to speak of and act on their belief. At the same time as our constitution prohibits state religion, establishment of it protects the free exercise of all religions. And walking this fine line requires government to be strictly neutral.” -- Ronald Reagan

Let's be clear. The fact that the State authorizes a marriage in no way compels any Church to perform or recognize it. Marriage equality merely guarantees equality under the law to all citizens; it does not compel churches to do anything.-- Katherine Ragsdale